


Captain BadAss and Footie Fury

by JoMouse



Series: Tumblr Prompts [30]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Boys Kissing, M/M, Mutual Pining, Prompt Fill, Texting, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-05-09 03:51:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14708559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoMouse/pseuds/JoMouse
Summary: Liam and Zayn meet through a group chat about superheroes.





	Captain BadAss and Footie Fury

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prompt from [this post](http://josjournal.tumblr.com/post/171943890912/dialogue-prompts). The prompt is: [text] Also, my bed has glitter in it for reasons I do not recall. for ziam please <33
> 
> I swear I can't keep anything short, no matter how hard I try.
> 
> I do hope you enjoy this.
> 
> Don't know 'em. Don't own 'em. Don't show 'em.

Liam grabbed his phone to shut off the alarm and then immediately tapped the Telegram app to see if he had any new messages. A couple of months earlier, he had joined a superhero group chat through tumblr, eventually splitting off into private conversations with one of the guys, known as Captain Badass, from the group. What had started as an occasional message when he saw something about superheroes turned into a nearly constant stream of messages. Even though the only concrete things he knew about the other guy were that they were the same age and he had three sisters, he still considered him one of his best friends. In fact, there were times Liam thought that he might be more, but he’d never admit it aloud and earn ridicule from his in real life friends.

There were a few messages from Captain Badass, Liam swore he was going to ask for his name one day, but always chickened out, so until then, he dubbed him as CA. He could feel the smile on his face as he thumbed the app open. 

_ Good morning, Footie Fury! Hope you slept well. I was up half the night, as usual, and I’m already convinced I’ll sleep through all of my classes. _

Liam knew that CA was an excellent student, he’d helped him with a few of his classes in the past, which convinced Liam that he might be a classmate of his, a thought that terrified him actually because most of the kids at school treated him like crap. He continued reading before he allowed his thoughts to grow dark.

_ Also, my bed has glitter in it for reasons I do not recall. _

That made Liam bust out with laughter as he quickly typed out a response, reminding CA that he’d spent half the night helping his best friend prepare a ridiculous proposal to the end of year dance for the boy he was crushing on. He’d outlined the plan for Liam and the entire thing seemed kind of over the top and embarrassing, but he felt a bit jealous at the same time knowing no one would ever ask him to the dance.

_ If I was at your school, I’d ask you, but I certainly wouldn’t do it in such a ridiculous way. Maybe a rose in your locker or summat. _

Liam said that sounded more his style as he heard his mother shout for him and he told CA he’d talk to him after school, knowing full well he’d end up messaging him by lunchtime because he could never seem to get through much time without contact. 

***

Zayn rolled his eyes as Louis freaked out, ordering around the other drama kids as he placed them around the room, explaining for the fifteenth time what their job was for this ridiculous fiasco he called a prom-posal even though that was an American bastardization of a word that didn’t really apply to their end of year dance. He wasn’t sure how he got roped into Louis’ crazy scheme, but there he was touching up the glitter covered piece of poster board with the words, “Will you go to the dance with me?” It was pretty unoriginal, but he figured the small band and students holding baskets of flower petals to throw when Harry walked through the door at the start of their lunch period would make up for it.

He glanced down at his phone, smiling when he saw a message from Footie Fury. He’d wondered if the boy would go the whole day without messaging him and he nearly had, but the message had arrived about five minutes earlier. 

_ I wish you were at my school. I know no one would ask me to the dance. My best friend has already turned down five people. Think he’s waiting for a certain someone. _

Zayn was about to respond when Louis swiped his phone and shoved it into Zayn’s front pocket; the boy had no boundaries. “Harry will be here any minute. We gotta be ready!”

“This is ridiculous,” Zayn muttered as he picked up the sign and giving it a shake to remove the extra glitter, cursing when some fell on his jeans. He was gonna sparkle for weeks.

“Stop being bitter just because you’re too chicken shit to ask out Payno,” Louis snapped and Zayn reached a hand out to cover his mouth, glancing around, thankful no one had heard his loud-mouthed friend. Louis reached up and pulled his hand away. “I don’t get the interest, but I know you’ve been crushing on him for four years and have said less than that many words to him.”

Zayn shut his eyes on a sigh. He wasn’t going to get into this again; his crush on Liam Payne wasn’t something that he was willing to act upon because he knew an athlete like him couldn’t possibly have any interest in him. They’d shared classes and passed in the hall and he was convinced the other boy didn’t even know his name. 

“I’m gonna go,” Zayn said as the door to the room opened and one of the girls holding the flower petals hissed out, “He’s here.”

***

Liam muttered under his breath as he made his way down the hall towards the drama classroom. Normally, he’d be heading to the library to spend his lunch period, but Harry had gotten caught up with a teacher arguing about the partner he’d been assigned for a project. So, now, instead of going off to eat his lunch in peace and message with CA for a while, he was heading to tell Harry’s biggest crush that Harry couldn’t make their lunch date. He hated being a messenger, but he knew how much Louis meant to Harry, so he couldn’t bear to refuse him.

As he neared the room, he glanced down at his phone and noticed that CA had read his message, but there was no attempt to respond. Frowning, he shoved his phone in his pocket and pushed on the door, hearing a sudden commotion inside the room. As he pushed the door open, music began playing and he was hit in the face with something soft and fragrant. Blinking, he looked up to see Louis mouthing the word “shit” and shoving something into someone’s hands.

Following the movement, Liam swallowed hard as he took in Zayn Malik, hottest guy in their school, holding a sign and looking lost. As his eyes trailed over the glitter encrusted sign, he swallowed hard. Then his gaze turned to Louis who had his hands shoved in his pockets and staring at the ceiling whistling innocently. Looking at the sign and the struck-dumb Zayn, he realized what was going on. Louis was Captain BadAss and Zayn was the friend he was helping and Liam was the person that CA’s friend wanted to ask to the dance.

Before he’d gotten to know CA, he’d have jumped at the chance to go to the dance with Zayn, but now that he was half in love with CA, there was really only one answer he could give. “N-no. I’m sorry, no,” he stuttered out as he ran out of the room and down the hall. Hiding himself in the first empty classroom he could find.

***

Zayn watched Liam run out of the room before turning and smacking Louis with the poster. “What the fuck was that?” he screeched, barely noticing as everyone else ran out of the room.

“Well, I couldn't very well have him thinking I was asking him to the dance, could I?” Louis responded with a shrug. “When I saw it was him, I thought I could give you both a push together.” He glanced at the door as it finally swung shut after the last person. “Guess it didn’t work out.”

“You’re an asshole,” Zayn said, leaving the room and pulling his buzzing phone out of his pocket.

_ “How’d the proposal go?” _

Zayn shook his head as he started to make his way down the hall, deciding he’d skip the rest of his classes and head home; he’d had enough humiliation to last him for awhile. He debated how to tell his friend what had happened; he’d told Footie Fury about Liam before, leaving out his name just on the off chance the other boy went to his school, but at the same time he knew how he felt about Football Fury and didn’t want to muck things up even more.

_ “Terribly. Remember that guy that I told you I fancied?” _

Zayn looked up at the clock, realizing he had time until the halls filled with students again, so he moved to the wall and slid down to the floor outside a dark classroom to sit while he waited for a response. He let his head fall back against the wall as he stared up at the ceiling, vaguely hearing the tones of a phone coming from nearby. He thought it sounded like the Telegram app notification, but he was probably imagining things.

After a few moments, just when he was ready to give up hope of hearing from the other boy, his phone buzzed. Thumbing open the app, he gazed at the single word that appeared.

_ “Yeah.” _ He noticed that it said FF was still typing, so he waited.  _ “That wasn’t who your friend asked, was it?” _

***

Liam would be lying if he said his mind wasn’t running in circles trying to figure out a way in which it would make sense that Louis was not Captain BadAss, but he was struggling. As he waited for the response, he started pacing around the classroom, debating turning on the light, but decided against it, enjoying the comfort of the darkness instead. He sat himself atop one of the desks furthest from one of the blind covered windows when his phone buzzed.

_ “Not exactly. For whatever reason, the guy showed up instead of the intended target. So in he walks and instead of my friend saying, ‘oops my bad,’ he shoves the sign in my hand and makes it look like I was the one doing the asking.” _

Liam tried to come up with a response to that, trying to figure out what to say, but a small part of him wondering if the guy said yes and he was on the verge of losing his chance. Taking a deep breath, he decided that maybe it would be time to suck it all up and admit how he was feeling and who he was to see if he even stood a chance, or if CA even lived anywhere near him.

Before he could even start to type anything, another message came through.

_ “It might have been alright if he’d said yes, but he said no and ran away like the room was on fire. Should’ve known he wouldn’t like me.” _ Liam stared at his phone in awe as another message came through.  _ “Although, getting hit in the face with flowers probably didn’t help matters.” _

Liam jumped off the desk, his heart thudding loudly. What were the odds? Was it possible that the bloke CA had been talking about was Liam? After all, he’d been hit in the face with flowers and he’d seen Louis shove the sign away. He also remembered how confused Zayn had appeared, but he probably would’ve looked that way anyway because he wasn’t Harry.

Taking a deep breath, Liam sent a message he didn’t think he’d ever have the guts to send.

***

Zayn saw the double checks indicating that FF had read his message, but after a minute of nothing else, he pushed himself to stand, knowing the halls would be filling up any second. He was about ten steps down the hall when his phone buzzed. He stopped, debating even looking at the message, but his always present desire to hear from FF won out.

_ “Where do you go to school?” _

He glanced around him, surprised. They’d always been so careful not to reveal any details about themselves to each other and now he was being asked a direct question. Confused, he decided that after his earlier humiliation he had nothing left to lose. He typed out his school name and hit send before continuing on towards the school entrance. He had his hand on the handle to push out the door when he heard a door down the hall slam open.

Turning, Zayn saw Liam standing in the middle of the hall looking left and right rapidly, stopping when his eyes met Zayn’s. He saw Liam open his mouth just as the bell rang and the halls began filling with students moving quickly, but he couldn’t hear what he said. He tried to move closer, but was shoved nearer the door and lost sight of Liam. With a shrug, he decided to exit through the door he’d been pushed against and head home as he’d originally planned. He wasn’t sure he could handle whatever Liam had to say to him anyway.

He was halfway through the carpark when he heard something he’d never expected to hear, a voice yelling, “Captain BadAss!” Whirling around, he saw Liam jogging down the steps of the school and hurrying across towards him.

“W-what?” Zayn stammered.

“It is you, isn’t it?” Liam asked as he stopped in front of Zayn, barely winded.

Zayn looked at Liam, his words sinking in. “Footie Fury?” he asked, smile growing wide when Liam nodded. “But…” He remembered now, Liam running away from the thought of going to the dance with Zayn and the smile quickly left his face.

“What? No,” Liam said, lifting his hands to Zayn's face and attempting to use his thumbs to press the corners of Zayn’s lips back into a smile. “Bring that back. It was beautiful.”

Zayn reached up and pulled Liam’s hands away from his face, but Liam gripped them firmly and wouldn’t let Zayn pull away. He tried to protest verbally, but Liam started speaking in a hurried voice. He talked about how he’d had a crush on Zayn for years and then he’d developed a crush on Captain BadAss. Zayn shook his head in disbelief, but Liam kept talking about how confused he was by the proposal and how he thought that, maybe, Louis was the person he’d fallen for through text and he couldn’t process that information. So he’d run.

“As soon as I realized. As soon as you mentioned the flowers, my brain figured it out and it made perfect sense that it was you,” Liam finished, squeezing Zayn’s hands as he pressed his forehead against Zayn’s.

“You said no,” Zayn responded, the only thing that he could come up with.

“Because I didn’t know,” Liam lamented. “Now that I know, can I change my answer?” he pleaded, pulling back to look into Zayn’s eyes.

Zayn was having a hard time grasping the turn his life had taken in the last fifteen minutes. He’d been crushing on two different people for so long and now he’s discovered they were one in the same and that they had a crush on him as well. He shook his head as he tried to get his racing thoughts to settle down, but as Liam released his hands and took a step backward, he realized what it had seemed like he had been doing.

Before Liam could get very far, Zayn grasped his wrist and held him still. Glancing around, he spotted a flower bed at the edge of the car park. He pulled Liam over towards it, happy that the other boy seemed to be following willingly. Reaching down, Zayn quickly plucked a flower from its stem with his free hand before turning towards Liam and offering it to the bewildered looking boy. “I know it’s not a rose and it isn’t in your locker, but will you go to the dance with me?”

***

Three weeks later, Liam was laughing as Zayn whispered something in his ear. They were standing in the middle of the dancefloor, coordinating suits and arms wrapped around each other. He glanced over and saw Louis and Harry, hands intertwined between them, as they talked with Niall and his date. When Niall glanced up and gave him a thumbs up, Liam felt his face flush and he buried it in Zayn’s neck.

Their friends were still giving them a hard time about how they’d gotten together, except Louis who insisted on taking full credit for it. They knew the teasing was good natured and their friends were actually extremely happy for the two of them. Liam was sneaking a kiss on the side of Zayn’s neck when he felt his phone buzz. He felt Zayn move suddenly. He watched as Zayn pulled out his phone and thumbed it open before laughing and turning the screen towards him.

Louis had posted a photo of the two of them on the dancefloor, lost in each other’s eyes. He’d tagged them both, which was why both of their phones had buzzed, but it was the caption that made his heart beat faster.  _ Cutest Clueless Couple: Captain BadAss and Footie Fury _

Leaning in, he pressed his lips to Zayn’s as he flipped off Louis who was laughing loudly, arms wrapped around his stomach as Harry tried to keep him standing. He hated his friends, new and old, but he wouldn’t trade them for anything.

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to come talk to me on [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/JolynnMg) or [tumblr](http://josjournal.tumblr.com). I really love meeting new people!


End file.
